The chief NASA space exploration manager is slated to be on The Colbert Report at 10:30 p.m. tonight on Comedy Central. Comic Stephen Colbert has been taking verbal jabs at the space agency over the past week, lobbying it to name a section of the International Space Station "Colbert."

NASAThe International Space Station seen in this November 2008 NASA photo.

"We know they'll have fun with us and we know that Stephen has an interest in space exploration," Jacobs told The Times. "We don't want to diminish the difficult work that's going on up there but we sometimes have to remind ourselves that this should be a fun and inspirational endeavor."

Gerstenmaier has oversight of the space shuttle and space station programs. He has also been a deputy mmanager for the development of the International Space Station.